Early 20th Century Restoration of Northern Utah Forests: A History of Change

Timeline Developed By Carol Majeske, Developed Sites/Concession Manager for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest

1847: Pioneers Arrived in Salt Lake Valley
 





1850's: 

• Forests in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City were needed for construction in the valley and later, in the 1860’s, for mine construction and associated development.

Alta Merger Mines Company: South Hecla Mine, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, UT

• Sawmills were built in Big Cottonwood Canyon 
  

•  Forage was needed for grazing livestock that provided food and clothing for the new arrivals 

1860’s-1870’s Mining

Big Cottonwood Mining District mines

• Silver and other minerals discovered (1860’s)

• Hundred of mines in the Cottonwood  Canyons and adjacent areas

1880’s

• 

  Logged hillsides near Alta, Utah in Little Cottonwood Canyon

  
  

  

  Logging in Little Cottonwood Canyon left hillsides barren

• Cumulative impacts to the canyons’ natural resources have begun to reach a critical stages

• Logging in canyons reached its peak

• Sheep and cattle continue to graze in canyons

• Severe flooding and erosion events occurred

August 11, 1880

Salt Lake Herald
Locals take action to protect their natural resources

1890's

• Foresters begin to point out connection between healthy forests and clean water

July 2, 1901

Salt Lake Herald
Yesterday the Bureau of Forestry came into existence as a distinct branch of the federal department of agriculture.

 


The chief of the new bureau is Gifford Pinchot, who has the distinction of being the first American to study forestry as a profession in the schools of Europe. 

Gifford Pinchot - First Chief of the US Forest Service

1901
State and city leaders ask Bureau of Forestry to set aside canyon forests for their connection to the water supply

1902 
Gifford Pinchot asks Albert Potter to survey lands in Utah as potential Forest Reserves

Albert F Potter

 

May 26, 1904

President Theodore Roosevelt creates Salt Lake Forest Reserve

President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot

September 1905

On September 8, 1905, Utah Senator Reed Smoot, Gifford Pinchot, tree planting experts and others spent the day riding horses in Big Cottonwood Canyon  in the Salt Lake Forest Reserve.  They surveyed resource conditions and made plans to re-forest the watershed.

September  7, 1905 

Salt Lake Herald
As soon as the experiment in regard to planting trees in Big Cottonwood proves successful, planting of forests will be commenced in the other canyons within the city’s watersheds.

Mr. Pinchot said that in addition to restoring the forests, the department will assist the city in protecting the streams from pollution and as soon as the city gains control of the waters of Big Cottonwood he would at once shut out the grazing of stock there.
 
September 11, 1905
Deseret Evening News

In 1905, Wasatch Forest Assistant James M. Fetherolf prepared a reforestation plan for the Salt Lake Forest Reserve with the assistance of W. B. Hadley.

Their work led them to establish a tree nursery the following November in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

June 6, 1906
Wasatch Nursery Established

Wasatch Nursery on the site of today's Spruces Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon

160-acre site, which now serves as the Spruces Campground on the Salt Lake Ranger District, was formally withdrawn on June 6, 1906.

Wasatch Nursery 1911

The Wasatch Nursery and the Big Cottonwood Ranger Station was supplemented with 40 acres six months later on Fetherolf’s recommendation

Big Cottonwood Cañón  Planting Map